I see my friend, Greg Belfrage is taking a lot of heat for finally shoving his eternal loyalty for the Minnesota Vikings over the side and jumping on board with the Green Bay Packers. My friend, Kerry Thill is discovering how much better things taste and smell after 47 days without a cigarette but still wants one so bad her teeth itch. My friend, Kenyon Gleeson has just bagged a big deer with a bow and arrow after sitting in a deer stand in the cold for hours and hours. He says it was all worth it. My friend, Randi Hamer swore she wasn’t going shopping on Black Friday but wound up in the Target check-out line anyway with piles of purchases. Loyal listeners to KORN Radio in Mitchell can relax, my friend, J.P. Skelly isn’t quitting from overworking himself. He’s simply taking a badly needed week-long vacation. My friend, Reid Holsen uses White Castle hamburgers as stuffing for his Thanksgiving turkey. My friend, Tracy Roskens is at a standoff with her dog who refuses to pee outside in the rain. Trouble is, she lives in New Orleans so her poor puppy is likely to explode.
I know all these things because I’ve become a Facebook junkie; spending way too much time on the social networking website snooping around finding out what people are up to and looking at the pictures they post. It’s odd because initially I wanted nothing to do with Facebook figuring it was mostly used by high school and college kids for swapping pictures and way too much personal information. But, a couple years ago, my daughter helped me sign up and now I have about 325 friends and a hundred more who requested friendship but I haven’t approved yet because, in most cases, I have no idea who they are. What makes Facebook so addicting is that for every friend you approve, you can see who “their” friends are and discover you know some of them too but havent seen or heard from them in years. I’ve been able to touch base with lots and lots of folks I used to work with at Kelo or played with in bands. I can look at their pictures and post photos of my own.
Oh, there’s a lot of garbage on Facebook too. If, for example, someone is constantly sending me internet games to play, or requesting I attend some event, they usually get the heave-ho or wind up having their name hidden from view.
Facebook is a good way to keep up with things my kids, grandkids and other family members are doing, although there are some revelations I’d rather “not” know. Even the Chief Executive has a Facebook page but it turns out to be all politics and no pictures of Michelle and the kids or of his stitched up lip from that basketball injury..so I won’t be asking to be his friend.
I think, for some of us, Facebook brings out our instinctive need to be nosey; to snoop on people without them knowing it. My mom’s Facebook was the party line telephone. Linda’s Facebook is when we drive through a nice neighborhood at night and she can see inside people’s windows.
I am mostly a window peeker myself; rarely making a comment unless it’s to plug my blogs on keloland.com or to wish friends a happy birthday. But I did write on Facebook the other day that I was concerned about guests showing up for Thanksgiving dinner and falling on their keester because the walks and driveway were covered with ice. When I got home from driving around looking for a place to buy de-icer, there was a 25 pound bag of it sitting on my front porch. It was from a neighbor who read about my dilemma on Facebook and wanted to help out.
Isn’t that nice? But, hey, that’s what friends are for.
